Tuesday, August 18, 2009

YouTube

Hi everyone,

“Did you see that clip on YouTube?”

I am sure most of you have heard the frequently used term YouTube, maybe in the workplace, playground or even when catching up with friends. YouTube is a world renowned site that allows registered users to view and upload video clips for the world to see.

While searching through the numerous available clips on YouTube and Teacher Tube I came across a great short snippet about the book my prep class are currently learning about ‘ Rosie’s Walk’ ( As featured below). I previewed the clip and thought that it will be a great hook to engage the learners in the Rosie’s Walk obstacle course that they will all be doing in a few weeks time. The children can watch the video carefully (ask students prior questions like - keep a look out for where and what objects Rosie sees on her walk) and as a class we could create a list of the obstacles Rosie went through on her walk. We then would use a variety of objects to create our own obstacle course (e.g. real hay, a fence to walk through).

YouTube is a wonderful site that could be incorporated within learning experiences for as young as prep to students in upper primary and senior creating their own YouTube clips.

Internet safety is vital for the use of this tool and as suggested and highly recommended by my university lectures, it is best to download and save the file to another program such as KeepVid. Then simply uploading it into the classroom, to ensure that students are not exposed to inappropriate advertisements or comments when streaming the video live. Also it can help overcome any problems with bandwidth connections within a school.According to Gardner (as cited in Warner & Thoron, n.d.) the use of this technology within the learning design allows students to use their imagination, construct knowledge allow multiple intelligences to cross connect through opportunities when working in groups, creative work, audio learning and kinaesthetic learning through the creation of activities supporting the use of the video aid. Providing these learning experiences that allow students to transfer knowledge to applications outside the classroom context allows them to create better understandings of what is being taught (Warner & Thoron, n.d.).I think YouTube is a great tool that can be implemented in an educational context, providing that the learning manager ensures that it is done taking all safety considerations into precaution. Until next time,